Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Monday, January 25, 2010

Anyone who has read this blog recently knows that Isa is INCREDIBLY verbal. Shockingly verbal sometimes. Which can be dicey- I really have to watch what I say because she will parrot back everything. She has started to memorize her books and will randomly spit out lines from them. Sometimes it takes me quite a while to understand what she's talking about even if the words are fairly clear. And, honestly, sometimes it's just really, really funny. A few examples:

Right after Christmas, she ran into the living room with her face in her hands and told me, very dramatically, "I devastated!" (Thank you Fancy Nancy!)

We were wrestling/snuggling on the couch this week. Isa unclipped her pacifier from her shirt, clipped in on me, and tried to put the other end in my mouth saying "Put your paci in and calm down." (Hmmm... she may have heard that line a few million times....)

Today we were taking a long walk around the neighborhood. We passed a dog behind a fence that barks loudly everytime anyone goes by. On our way back, as we neared the fence, Isa started yelling "No doggie! No barking! Be 'siderate!" (i.e., "considerate", learned from one of her books)

And finally, an example of the wonderful things she parrots back. She ended up in my bed last night and woke this morning at 6:45, adament that she needed to "go pee-pee in potty." Inner groan but I rolled out of bed and got her into the bathroom. I was gritting my teeth trying to be patient about the exceedingly unpleasant wake-up. As I helped her take off her jammies, she hugged my legs and said "I love you mostest. Wide whole world." It didn't feel quite so unpleasant after that. :)

(And, yes, yes, I know that I need to take some photos and get them posted. Wrist slap noted.)

Monday, January 18, 2010

We've flirted several times with potty training. Back in September she started telling me ahead of time when she would poo. Since she was also in a phase where she hating having her diaper changed and would be physically fight me each time, I thought we'd try potty training. No dice. Too soon.

Later in the fall, we tried again. Unfortunately, the cat was also really sick and after a single afternoon of cleaning up 3 toddler puddles and 2 cat pukes in less than 3 hours, I called it quits.

In the last month Isa has asked several times to wear her big girl underpants so I figured why not try. I remained hopeful that she'd be one of those kiddos that trains in a day. (I'd read the book afterall!) As with all toddler training , I kept up a constant stream of reminders "When we wear big girl underpants, we ONLY pee in the potty" or "You need to keep your big girl underpants dry", etc. And intellectually, she got it. She could walk through the entire process with her potty and could tell me how it was supposed to go. But she didn't quite recognize how to get to the potty BEFORE going pee all over the floor. I'd get frustrated after multiple accidents and the diapers would go back on.

Soooo..... I decided that I needed a change of focus. I'm just not going to be able to handle a week straight of that many accidents without totally losing my patience. And so what if my child doesn't train in a day? She'll get there eventually, right? We put the diapers back on and I told Isa to let me know if/when she wants to use the potty. Over the last week she has started at least telling me when she needs to go pee, although she often refuses my suggestion to go sit on the potty. She taught several of her stuffed animals to use the potty which is quite funny to watch.

Now, admittedly, she has discovered that this can be used to her advantage. Twice after being put down for nap or bedtime I heard her calling me "Mama, need to use the potty!". While I know that it's partly a delay tatic, I want to encourage her, so I get her out of the crib and off we go. And you know what?!? Both times she did go pee in the potty! Woo-ha!!!

(Here's where I was going to insert a cute new pic but turns out I haven't loaded anything new since Christmas. Oops. So, here's a repeat of a cute shot from her first time wearing big girl underpants back in September.)

I'm happy to post recipes if anyone wants them. Isa has been rather obsessed with soup lately and will eat large quantities of it for lunch. I'm hoping to make a big pot of soup at least once a week for lunches and freezing. If any of those are big winners, I'll post about them as well.

Sunday, January 3, 2010

We've had a rough week in terms of nighttime sleeping. With the double whammy of nearly a week spent at my parents' house and the excitement of Christmas, Isa's had a lot of trouble going to sleep and then staying asleep at night now that we're home.

A couple nights she resisted being put down at all which is very usual. Once I finally got her to stay in the crib, she'd eventually wake up and start yelling "Mama, Mama". She'd be wide awake in her crib and stand up asking to be rocked again. She'd get hysterical if I didn't pick her up. One night she did that every 2 hours, all night long.

Well, a couple nights ago, I went in for the first back-to-sleep rocking session, feeling rather frustrated and impatient. Isa cuddled right into my chest and I put my chin down on her forehead while we rocked forward and backward. After about 10 minutes she started doing what I call the Maggie Simpson- very loud pacifier sucking. This always indicates that she's in a deep sleep. Before I could stand up to put her back in her crib, she sighed deeply. And I was instantly sucked back to the first several months after she came home. Back when she was very small, I used to have to rock her until she was deeply asleep or she would wake up the instant I laid her down in her crib. I used to wait for that heavy sigh to know that she was asleep enough to put down. I can't remember the last time I held her long enough at bedtime to hear that sigh.

And suddenly all the frustration was gone, replaced by the bittersweet knowledge that time is moving much too fast. I can now rest my chin on the head of the baby that used to fit neatly on one forearm. I need to savor every one of these late night sessions because someday- sooner than I want to believe- she won't need to be rocked back to sleep and I know I'll miss hearing that sigh.

About Me

I'm a single mama to a busy preschooler. Life got a little too harried and we started relying heavily on prepackaged and convience foods. We were surviving and not really living. I decided we needed a radical change to get back on track. Follow along as I stumble through a year of going homemade.